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Monday, February 25, 2013

Selective hearing

Yesterday we made trip to the dog park, and while this time we had no falling-in-the-river mishaps, we did have one brief scare because of Boden. Whenever we first arrive, the dogs are ecstatic. Boden runs around like a mad man, not even flinching when we say his name. He will sprint 100 yards to the first dog or human he spots, leaving us to chase after him. This effect normally wears off after the first few minutes of excitement pass, but keep us on our toes for those minutes. The dog park is huge, several acres at least. We've come across owners frantically searching for their dogs, running up and down the trails yelling for them. Because most of it is woods, it would be an easy place to lose track of your dog. So we've always been super cautious to keep the dogs in sight. And that's how our small moment of panic occurred yesterday.

We entered the park and Boden took off running across the trails to greet a dog he saw in the distance. We called for him, but with his selective hearing, this was pointless. Thatcher, J. and I jogged ahead to catch up with him. As we got closer, Boden took off for the next dog he saw - which happened to be even further in the woods. We hurried and tried to keep our eyes on Boden, but he disappeared between the trees. This went on for a minute or two, Boden in la-la land following all the dogs he could find, and us struggling to catch a glimpse of him as he zoomed through the woods. He finally circled back to the trail in hot pursuit of another dog, when he finally noticed us calling his name. Thatcher ran ahead and barked at Boden as if to tell him to get his butt over by us, and surprisingly Boden finally listened. After that, his craziness passed and both dogs stuck fairly close to us. Another crisis averted.